Black Knight (27 page)

“I don’t get it,” I say. “Ora was fine after Li worked on him.”

“It’s possible treating Ora drained Li,” Sam suggests.

“She freaked out when we lost the girls,” Kyle says to me. “Started raving in Korean and shit, acting like she was the one who killed them. I tried talking to her but . . . she doesn’t know me and I don’t think she trusts me. Maybe you can help her. Whatever you can do, Jessie, do it fast. Hanging out on the side of this mountain is like waving a white flag in surrender. You can bet Nordra and Viper are eyeing us as I speak.”

“I’ll talk to her,” I say. I walk toward Li, kneeling by her side, Ora at my back. With her hair hanging down, I can’t see her face. I pull it aside and put my hand on the back of her neck. “Li? Li, look at me, it’s Jessie. Tell me what’s wrong.”

She’s a long time answering. I wait a minute, two—it’s like someone’s cut out her tongue. I’m tempted to shake her but finally she turns in my direction. Yet it’s like she doesn’t recognize me at first. She blinks rapidly, then stops, gives me a glassy stare.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers.

“It’s not your fault. They were dying. No one could’ve saved them.”

She closes her eyes. “They were all right.”

“What? Are you saying you healed them?”

“Lula said they were fine. But . . . they died.”

I stand and trudge back to Kyle. Sam and Marc are sorting through our supplies, looking for cooked fish. Ora stays with Li. I speak in Kyle’s ear, wanting only him to hear.

“After you left your cell, was it possible you were attacked?” I ask.

Kyle acts surprised. “No. No one touched Teri. She just started bleeding. And no one touched Nicole.”

“Could Viper have been there?” I press.

“If she was, I didn’t see her.” Kyle suddenly stops. “Shit!”

“What is it?” I snap.

Kyle’s fingers grip into fists. “Just before I went to wake Nicole, she made a peculiar breathing sound.”

“Define peculiar.”

Kyle struggles with himself. “Fuck. She sounded like she was choking a little in her sleep. That’s why I went to wake her. But what if she was being smothered?”

“Viper?” I say.

Kyle closes his eyes and lowers his head. “Some fucking hero I turned out to be. I let that bitch kill Nicole right in front of me.”

* * *

We continue our hike toward the volcano’s peak. Li is too depressed, too upset, to heal either Sam or Mary. I have no choice but to work on both of them. Luckily, Sam’s fracture is hairline and I’m able to fix it. But Mary barely responds to my touch this time, possibly because I treat her after Sam. Healing always drains me. As a result, Mary continues to be the weak link in our train. She lags behind with her brother, forcing us to make frequent stops so she can rest.

“I don’t want to be the one to say it,” Kyle tells me as we tread over a slick plate of black rock. Sam, Ora, Chad, and Marc are up front. Kyle’s boys—Pierre and Keb—keep Mary, Billy, and Li company at the rear.

Up ahead, a quarter of a mile, steam rises from the ground.

We’re approaching another hot spring.

“You want to dump Mary,” I say.

“I don’t want to dump anyone. But we’ve got to think of the group. We can’t risk ten lives to save one.”

“To save two. Billy’s never going to leave his sister.”

“Then that will be his decision. But we’ve got to increase our pace if we’re to reach the cave before dark, not keep taking more breaks.”

“You have the nerve to just leave them behind?”

Kyle isn’t insulted. “I told you I’m no saint. But this isn’t about me. This is about you. Whether you accept it or not, the group’s already appointed you our leader. Even Pierre and Keb—they just met you but I swear they trust you more than they trust me.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“I’m being blunt.” Kyle reaches out and grabs my arm, stopping me. He’s a strong devil. He lets the last of our gang trudge by before he lays into me. “You defeated Syn. You had that rep before we were taken to this godforsaken place. And you went one-on-one against Nordra and survived. You’re already making the big decisions. You’re the boss! Now start acting like it. Make the tough call and get us off the side of this mountain where every witch who wants to kill us can see us.”

“I didn’t kill Syn,” I mutter.

“What?”

“Her five-year-old son killed her. I just happened to be there.”

Kyle blinks. “No shit?”

“Still want me to be the one to condemn Mary and Billy to death?”

“Yes.”

“You’re a cold bastard, you know that?” Kyle doesn’t reply, just looks at me, waiting. I snap, “All right, I’ll think about it.”

Kyle nods in the direction of the hot spring. “Don’t take long,” he warns, before his expression suddenly shifts to shock. He turns and calls to the front of our pack. “Sam!”

Sam’s already waving to us. “I see them! Get up here!”

We rush to the front. Marc, Ora, Chad—they don’t understand what the big emergency is. “What are you witches seeing?” Marc demands. That’s the first time he’s called us that.

Sam answers. “Ghosts are hiding behind boulders up ahead. There are two on our right, two on our left. But for all I know all six of them are here.” He pauses. “They let me see them on purpose.”

“You sure?” Kyle asks.

“No question,” Sam says. “They didn’t peek over the rocks. They let their gaze linger. They wanted us to spot them.”

“We know they’re fast and telepathic,” I say. “Anything else?”

“They heal quickly,” Kyle says.

Sam speaks. “They always move in packs. Always have a leader. That will be their witch. We catch him, they won’t know what to do.”

“How do we know which one’s the leader?” Marc asks.

Sam studies the large black rocks that litter the steaming pools. I smell sulfur and recall Cleo’s warning. Be wary of Viper anyplace there’s exposed lava. I ask Sam what he sees but he answers Marc’s question.

“I’ll be able to spot their leader,” Sam says.

Kyle snorts. “So you’re a telepath. You never told us that.”

Sam is annoyed. “Like you told us half of what you can do.”

I raise my hands. “We’ll fight about our powers later. What do we do now?”

“We need to make a decision,” Kyle says. “Do we try to take them or let them go?”

Sam cups his hands around his eyes and again scans the terrain a half mile up. But this time I feel he’s searching more with his telepathic mind than his extraordinary vision. “If it helps with the decision, their leader is on the far left, away from the others, alone behind a rock.”

“You can see him?” Kyle asks.

Sam shakes his head. “I can feel
her
. She’s the only one who hasn’t deliberately revealed her position.”

“They’re protecting her,” Chad says.

“Cut off the head of the snake and the snake dies,” Marc says. “Knowing her location gives us a big advantage. Here’s my plan. You three act like you’re heading for the ghosts who’ve shown their heads, then make a radical left turn and take her down.”

“So we’re talking about killing her?” Chad says.

Marc shrugs. “We can’t exactly ask her to join our team.”

Sam speaks. “If we do take her hostage, we might be able to force the ghosts to work for us.”

Kyle shows interest. “How? By torturing her?”

Sam ignores him. “We need to decide. Kill her or try to take her alive?”

All eyes go to me. Kyle’s right, they’re already depending on me to make the final call. Yet I feel we’re rushing our decision.

“You’re all acting like we’re the hunters here,” I say. “This could be a trap. Look at last night. The ghosts led me straight into Nordra’s arms.”

“She’s right,” Marc says, reconsidering. “The ghosts could be working with Nordra or Viper.”

Sam nods. “I suspect the ghosts would know if Nordra or Viper are in the area. But I doubt they’ve formed a partnership with them. The ghosts are extremely reclusive—they’d never trust an outsider.”

Sam’s comments fuel my doubts. What he says tallies with what Cleo told me about the ghosts. Yet it troubles me that they’ve decided to face us all at once, particularly in broad daylight. They must have something up their sleeve.

“I don’t like leaving the rest of our people exposed,” I say. “And that’s exactly what we’ll be doing if the three of us go after the ghosts.”

“Us three” has come to mean “Us witches.”

Ora holds up a spear. “We’re not defenseless.”

For a moment the arguing stops, although Kyle continues to pace impatiently. Sam appears thoughtful. He breaks the silence.

“I agree it could be a trap. But I think we stand a better chance of fighting our way out of a trap if the three of us stick together.” He turns to me. “Sorry.”

“I agree with Sam,” Kyle says. “Let’s take the spears and strike fast and hard. Kill whoever gets in our way and then take their leader, dead or alive.”

Again they look to me to make the call. But I can see they’re through talking. It’s time to act.

“All right, all three of us will attack,” I say. “We’ll take the machetes. But we’re leaving half the spears with the rest of our group.”

Kyle goes to protest but thinks better of it. Quickly our spears and machetes change hands. I pull Marc, Ora, and Chad aside.

“I need you to do what I say and not ask any questions,” I whisper to them. “Take six spears and set one lying flat atop each of those six boulders.” I point to the ones I’ve chosen. “Set the sharp ends pointed uphill. Do it a minute after we leave.”

“Jessie—” Marc begins.

“Just do it,” I cut him off.

Kyle, Sam, and I are set. We each carry a machete in our right hand, a bundle of spears in our left. As a backup, we have knives in our belts.

Our plan mimics Marc’s suggestion: rush the more obvious ghosts before veering left toward their witch. The only change is Kyle insists we kill any ghosts that raise their heads.

We line up like gladiators of old.

I tell them we’ll go on a count of three.

“One . . . two . . . three!” I cry.

We explode out of the blocks, and I’m relieved to see that Sam and Kyle have no trouble matching my speed. Kyle may even be faster. The ghosts react to our attack by scurrying away like startled insects. Yet their retreat was planned in advance. They all head to our right, away from their leader, and they make clever use of the surrounding terrain. Just when one ghost appears to make a tempting target, he or she ducks behind a rock. Kyle wastes three spears and screams in disgust.

“Shit!” he says.

“Forget them! Their leader’s on the move,” Sam yells.

“Where?” I snap.

Sam does a quick mental scan. “She’s heading down the mountain and farther south, half and half.”

I nod. “Gotcha. Kyle, cut straight across at this altitude, stay above her. Sam, chase after her, keep on her tail. I’ll run halfway back toward our group then cut south. That way we’ll have her boxed in. Now go!”

We set off like three missiles homing in on a flying target. The head ghost is every bit as fast as us but it’s three against one. She clearly didn’t expect Sam to spot her. Already I can see her darting in and out of the maze of boulders and steaming pools. She’s at a terrible disadvantage because she can’t veer up or down the side of volcano. She’d just run into Kyle or myself. To stay ahead of us, she has to keep running in as straight a line as fast as possible. Yet that makes it almost impossible for her to hide.

I know we’re going to catch her.

I want her caught, alive.

Suddenly I hear a chorus of cries at my back.

A bolt of terror and guilt shoots through me and I almost trip and fall. Even before I turn I realize I should have listened to my gut. That we were the hunted and not the hunters. That the ghost leader knew exactly what she was doing.

Twisting my head, I see a nightmare.

Nordra and his two girls, in their blue uniforms, are racing toward the center of our group. Nordra carries a machete; his partners each have a bundle of spears. Ora runs out to meet them, Chad and Marc a few steps behind him.

The girls’ sticks are either bent or else they’re lousy shots. Their spears fall harmlessly to the ground. Still, the hail of sharp sticks intimidates the others, causing them to huddle helplessly; and it looks like my friends will be taking the brunt of the attack.

All thought of the ghosts vanishes. All I care about is getting to Nordra before he reaches my friends. Having already run halfway back to the main group, I’m closer to them than Sam or Kyle.

Nevertheless, I call to my fellow witches as I turn and race toward Nordra. I hear Sam shout in reply but don’t know what he says. My heart shrieks in my head. I saw what Nordra did to those people in the meadow and know he’ll show my people no mercy.

Ora is fifty feet from Nordra, on a head-on collision, when he stops to throw a spear. He puts every fiber of his strong muscles into the heave and his form is superb. Unfortunately, Nordra’s reflexes are blinding. Seemingly without breaking stride, he plucks the spear from midair and snaps it in two, tossing it aside.

Ora manages to draw his knife but that’s as far as he gets. Nordra doesn’t even raise his machete as he races by. The beast slugs Ora in the chest, knocking him to the ground. I’m two hundred yards away but I’m still able to hear the bones and cartilage in Ora’s sternum crack.

Marc and Chad are more successful. Their spears go wide on their first throws, but they’re fast learners and hit both of Nordra’s girls on their second attempts. Chad’s spear strikes one in the leg; Marc’s pierces the other’s chest, and there’s no question he’s delivered a fatal blow.

Perhaps that’s the reason Nordra goes after Marc, I don’t know. It seems crazy but I wonder if Nordra’s seen me talking to him, if he knows I care for Marc. Whatever the reason, Nordra plucks Marc off the ground and, using both arms, holds him over his head as if he were made of foam rubber.

The dramatic pose is for my benefit.

Once again, Nordra has come to make me an offer.

“Jessica Ralle!” he calls as I rush to Chad’s side. “I would speak to you!”

Chad whispers to me. “What do we do?”

“Get back with the others.”